Evelyn L.
Yelp
When I heard H Mart was opening right outside my workplace and soon, I was so excited and happy. Hearing it opened over the weekend made Monday an extra special day to come in to.
Since it is still freshly opened, they still appear to be in the process of tidying up and getting things in place, but what they do have is a beautiful sight to see. They appear to have very much everything you could need for Korean groceries, and the fact that I can access this without having to travel out of my way is so exciting (finding a place with lots of Korean groceries near me was something I missed a lot). Everything looks so nice and clean, and it remains to be seen how much it stays that way, but now I finally understand why people get excited for grand openings of stores.
They have walls absolutely stacked with different varieties of Korean ramen, aisles stuffed to the brim with snacks and chips, freezers full of dumplings, ice cream, and Korean pancakes, a shelf wallpapered with curry mixes, all the rice and chili paste you could ever need, produce with some of the brightest and most buff tomatoes, a shrine of the ever delicious banana flavored milk, and so much more.
There is also a section in the back where they are opening a Korean chicken restaurant, and they also have ready to eat food, including kimbap and spicy rice cakes. I normally fast throughout the day until I get home, but if this food is as good as I hope, I may end up breaking it.
Note that while I am emphasizing Korean products, they do also have their fair share of Japanese and Chinese products, but the emphasis here is definitely on Korean.
I do have a few minor gripes. The first is I was not able to locate any soondae (Korean blood sausage). I don't know if this will appear in the future or if I missed it (very possible, there was so much to see), but that would definitely be the fast breaker for me. The second is when I checked out, they only gave me half of my receipt. But to their credit, I think they were just as excited about the opening as I was, and I will forgive them if they stay open and continue to provide their wide array of lovely items.
If you are near the area and are considering checking it out, I would definitely recommend you do so! It was surprisingly empty when I went in at around 1:25 PM, but this may be due to the fact it was raining, and perhaps the target demographic were in class. Unlike other stores you may have been in, it is spacious enough that crowding and tight squeezes will be less of an issue.
UPDATE: I returned the following day to look around more carefully, and found they do have soondae, but only in the freezer! Still hoping they start offering ready to eat ones.